Joe Wilson



Addison Graves Wilson, Sr., "Joe" Wilson, a Republican, has represented the Second Congressional District of South Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2001. (map)

Iraq War
Wilson voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 that started the Iraq War.

Environmental record
For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Biography
Wilson was born in Charleston, South Carolina on July 31, 1947 to Hugh de Veaux Wilson and Wray Graves Wilson. At age fifteen, Wilson joined a Republican political campaign, and while still a teenager he was the first staffer to join the campaign of Congressman Floyd Spence, later working as an aide to Senator Strom Thurmond.

Wilson graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1969, obtained a law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1972, worked as a real estate attorney, and co-founded the law firm Kirkland, Wilson, Moore, Taylor & Thomas in West Columbia, where he practiced for over 25 years. Wilson was also a Judge in Springdale.

From 1972 to 1975, Wilson served in the United States Army Reserve, and then as a Staff Judge Advocate in the South Carolina Army National Guard assigned to the 218th Mechanized Infantry Brigade until retiring from military service as a Colonel in 2003.

In 1981 and 1982, during the Reagan Administration, Wilson served as Deputy General Counsel for former Governor Jim Edwards at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Wilson was elected to the South Carolina Senate in 1984 as a Republican from Lexington County, and never missed a statutory session in 17 years. He became the first Republican to serve as Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. Wilson was a member of the Columbia College Board of Visitors and Coker College Board of Trustees.

Congressional Career
After Congressman Spence died in 2001, Wilson ran for his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He won the December 18 special election easily and was sworn in the next day.

Wilson has continued Spence's pattern of conservative voting and strong support for the military. Unlike Spence however, he has attracted attention for controversial remarks. In September 2002, during a debate on the possibility of going to war in Iraq, Wilson called Congressman Bob Filner "viscerally anti-American" and claimed that he had a "hatred of America" after Filner suggested the United States supplied chemical and biological weapons to Saddam Hussein. Wilson said later that he didn't intend to insult Filner. 

Wilson ran unopposed for a full term in 2002. Wilson was mentioned as a possible candidate for retiring Senator Fritz Hollings' seat in 2004, but he decided to run for a second full term and handily beat his opponents, Democrat Michael Ray Ellisor and Constitution Party nominee Steve Lefemine.

2006 congressional elections
In 2006, the Democrats nominated Michael Ray Ellisor to face Wilson in his November 2006 bid for reelection. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006)  Wilson retained his seat.

Positions and Views
In June 2005, Wilson responded to calls by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Government Reform ranking member Henry Waxman for an independent commission to investigate the alleged abuse of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, saying that it "is just inconceivable and truly incorrigible that in the midst of the war, that the Democratic leaders would be conducting guerrilla warfare on American troops." Wilson called the proposal "another example of some Democrat leaders trusting the words of terrorists over the proven decency of U.S. troops." 

Rep. Wilson has sponsored dozens and co-sponsored hundreds of bills, issuing press releases regarding seven of them, concerning teacher recruitment and retention, college campus fire safety, National Guard troop levels, arming airline pilots, tax credits for adoption and living organ donors, and state defense forces, most of which are still in committee. As of January 2006, eight bills co-sponsored by Wilson have been signed by the president, including H.R.1973, the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005, making safe water and sanitation an objective of U.S. assistance to developing countries.

Memorial authorized to commemorate Revolutionary War Gen. Francis Marion
On March 5, 2007, the House passed a bill sponsored by Rep. Wilson authorizing the Marion Park Project. The project would establish a memorial in the District of Columbia to honor Brigadier General Francis Marion. Marion, known as the “Swamp Fox,” commanded the Williamsburg militia in South Carolina during the Revolutionary War. Prior to the bill, Marion Park existed in Washington D.C., but lacked a formal commemoration of Marion himself. An organization called the Palmetto Conservative Foundation backed the effort to create one, and this bill would grant it the authority to do so.

The bill passed 390-0.

Money in politics
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Committees

 * House Committee on Education and Labor
 * Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
 * Subcommittee on Workforce Protections -Ranking Member
 * House Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces
 * Subcommittee on Military Personnel
 * Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces
 * House Committee on Foreign Affairs
 * Subcommittee on Europe and Emerging Threats
 * Subcommittee on Middle East and Central Asia

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

 * House Armed Services Committee
 * Terrorism Subcommittee
 * Tactical Air and Land Subcommittee
 * Committee on Education and the Workforce
 * Education Reform Subcommittees
 * Employer-Employee Relations Subcommittee
 * House Committee on International Relations
 * House Republican Policy Committee

Coalitons and Caucuses

 * Air Force Caucus
 * Army Caucus
 * Republican Co-Chair, Boy Scout Caucus
 * Bulgaria Caucus
 * County Community and Resource Development Committee
 * Co-Chair, Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans
 * Congressional Coastal Caucus
 * Congressional Diabetes Caucus
 * Congressioanl Fire Services Caucus
 * Congressioanl Rural Caucus
 * Death Tax Elimination Caucus
 * First Tuesday Republican Club of Richland and Lexington
 * House Cancer Caucus
 * House Oceans Caucus
 * Mongolia Caucus
 * Navy-Marine Caucus
 * Republican Israel Caucus
 * Republican Study Committee
 * Reserve Components Caucus
 * Special Operations Caucus
 * Taiwan Caucus
 * Welfare Reform Task Force
 * Zero Capital Game Tax Caucus

Boards and other Affiliations

 * Member, Air Force Association
 * Member, Alston-Wilkes Society
 * Member, American Heart Association
 * Member, American Legion Guignard Post, 40 and 8
 * Member, American Legislative Exchange Council
 * Member, Amvets
 * Member, Association of the United States Army
 * Member, Executive Committee, Boy Scouts
 * Member, Columbia World Affairs Council
 * Member, Columbia World Affairs Council Sister Cities Delegation to Chelyabinsk, Russia/ Cluj-Napoca, Member, Romania/ Plovdiv, Bulgaria
 * Member, Fellowship of Christian Athletes
 * Member, Fourteenth Air Force Association
 * Board of Advisors, The Israel Project
 * Member, Masons
 * Member, Mid-Carolina Mental Health Association
 * Member, Military Order of the World Wars
 * Member, National Guard Association
 * Member, National Rifle Association
 * Member, Navy League
 * Member, Reserve Officers Association
 * Member, Rotary Club
 * Member, Sheriff's Department Law Enforcement Advisory Council
 * Member, Shriners
 * Member, Sinclair Lodge 154
 * Member, Sons of Confederate Veterans
 * Member, South Carolina Homebuilders Association

More Background Data

 * 2006 South Carolina CD 2 Candidate List from VIS

Campaign contact information
DC Office: 212 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515-4002 Phone: 202-225-2452 Fax: 202-225-2455 Email: Joe.Wilson AT mail.house.gov Web Email Website

District Office - Beaufort: 903 Port Republic Street Beaufort, SC 29901 Phone: 843-521-2530 Fax: 843-521-2535

District Office - Columbia: 1700 Sunset Boulevard (United States 378), Suite 1 Post Office Box 7381 West Columbia, SC 29202 Phone: 803-939-0041 Fax: 803-939-0078

Twitter
 Joe Wilson posts on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CongJoeWilson/

Latest posts: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/15116570.rss|title=none| max=3| short See all the members of Congress who Twitter

Resources

 * Official website
 * Campaign website
 * Open Secrets - 2006 congressional races database

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * South Carolina Democratic Party

Articles

 * Congressman with military ties backs Iraq war by Darran Simon, MedillNewsDC